“Grow Your Health” Program
Proposal by Prof. Johanna Sophia (uploaded on her behalf by Pam O’Dea)
To implement the MAHA promise to make Americans healthy again in the short period of only two years (as promised by RFK jr), widespread action has to be taken to supply Americans across the nation with healthier foods. Good health depends on good water, sunshine, air, and most of all good nutrition.
Realizing that the natural, organic ingredients required are simply not available on a large enough scale to allow the corporate food producers to change their products rapidly, we have to take matters into our own hands and start growing healthy foods on a small scale everywhere.
This proposal lays out a program that will allow Grow Your Health teachings and food production almost immediately nationwide. The program will use existing public institutions like libraries, the USDA, first-time farmers’ grants, and Farm Credit branches to foster and financially support the immediate implementation of the Grow Your Health program.
What Can People Grow Immediately?
Everyone can learn how to sprout lentils, mung beans, alfalfa, and many other seeds on their kitchen counter or on their windowsill in their homes. Sprouts are ready to eat in 2 to 5 days and have such a high nutrient density that they can literally reduce inflammation, encourage healthy digestion, and provide the vitamins and minerals that can “grow your health” in days.
People who have front or back yards can learn how to carve out parts thereof and grow fast-growing foods like lettuces, radishes, and all the cruciferous plants that produce highly nutrient-dense edible leaves and roots within weeks.
Small-scale farmers, or people wanting to become farmers, can be taught how to use simple permaculture principles to grow foods like sweet potatoes, squashes, cabbages, and heirloom plants all parts of which can be consumed. They can also grow nutrient-dense grains such as amaranth and millet on a larger scale and sell their yields at local markets and to their neighbors.
How Do You Serve Your Fresh Foods?
The program will include Food Preparation classes such as Prof. Sophia’s Easy Fun Raw workshop or Dr. Will Tuttle’s World Peace Diet classes that include the preparation of both savory and sweet dishes everyone can prepare at home in minutes.
Prevention and Reversal
As we teach how to shift our eating habits to more fresh, natural ingredients, and as participants are implementing the teachings, they will inevitably notice that their ailments are mitigated or reversed. We need to then ensure that we document their stories; not as double-blind studies but as anecdotal evidence that we are making progress in restoring health rapidly according to the MAHA promise.
Teachers of the Grow Your Health Program
Throughout my life, and especially over the last 10 years, I have learned from and worked with natural, organic growers and practitioners. I have connected with hundreds of health and farming professionals from around the globe whom we can call upon to help implement the Grow Your Health program. I have also prepared proposals such as the Zimbabwe Goes Organic proposal for the government of Zimbabwe or the Happy Body Happy Planet conference program.
To allow the largest possible percent of the American people to benefit from this MAHA program, we need thousands of “teachers” to teach the program at the 120,000+ libraries, at meet-ups, and maybe at local government offices everywhere throughout the nation.
Helpful Institutions
- USDA
- Farm Credit System
- Organic farmers associations
- Permaculture groups
- The Transition Towns movement (veggie front lawns)
- Bio-dynamic farmers’ associations
- SEKEM…com – As an example of turning deserts into lush growing grounds
- Foraging clubs
- School gardens
The Grow Your Health program will teach and involve mostly plant-based foods as it is much safer to grow and prepare edible plants than to grow and slaughter chickens and other animals. In addition, the nutrient density in plants is significantly higher than that of meats, and the water, space, and total resources required for animal husbandry are about 10-fold greater than for plant foods.